Hello friends,
For those of you who are interested,
here is  theoriginal theory that I posted
to  PIEN- in February, 1999

Please forgive the length.
Ivan Suzman

Subject:
 PD caused by "HDV" virus:: "Genes, Parkinson's, Viruses and Research
Priorities "
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Date: 02/01/2000 09:22 AM
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^^^^^^  WARM GREETINGS  FROM  ^^^^^^^^^^^^  :-)
 Ivan Suzman, PWP, 50/39/36       [log in to unmask]      :-)
 Portland, Maine    land of lighthouses          22 deg. F   :-)
******************************************************************
   Dear PIEN, and all PD researchers,        February 1, 2000


   The text of my VIRAL origin theory, sent to PIEN on Feb. 13, 1999,
follows.
Here, I suggested that Parkinson's Disease is probably viral, and I named
this hypothetical PD-causing  virus "HDV", or  Human Dopamine-Deficiency
Virus.

    PLEASE, PWP's AND RESEARCHERS, will you post comments on this theory,
and on funding priorities? Your comments will help PWP's (persons with
PD) worldwide, very much!

    Thank you to Greg Sterling of Pennsylvania, for retrieving this
message from the PIEN Archives.

                             Sincerely yours,

                             Ivan Suzman  tel 207 797-8488 USA
*************************************************************************
**********************************
            Date:   13/02/99
            Author: [log in to unmask] (Ivan M. Suzman)
            Topics: Symptom, Parkinson's Disease, Dopamine, Dopaminergic,
Substantia


                         NIgra, Striatum, Encephalitis, Amantadine,
Tremor, PWP

""""""""""""""""""""""""Original Message
Begins""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

      GENES, PARKINSON'S , VIRUSES and RESEARCH PRIORITIES

                               by Ivan M. Suzman, PWP

     I am now 49. For at least 13 years, I  have lived with visible
symptoms of "young-onset" Parkinson's Disease (PD).  The internal systems
of my body are now ruled by this unwanted condition.  My  response to
light, my tolerance of sound, my ability to maintain balance, my response
to cold or to heat, and my sexual function are among many autonomic
responses that are being devastated.

      I offer here, especially to interested persons such as Mr. Safra
and other financiers, whose financial positions and generosity may lead
to the eradication of this horrible malady, some thoughts on what
Parkinson's is, and how I would direct research monies to be invested.  I
hope that these thoughts will stimulate decisive commitments to a
diversity of inspired researchers. I invite discussion.

                                ------------**********---------------

       Parkinson's Disease is one of many names for a group of
potentially fatal conditions which are all human dopamine deficiency
disorders (DDD's).  Wide speculation about the cause or causes for the
onset of DDD's continues. Frequently mentioned are toxic exposure,
radiation, endosomatic trauma, viral infection or exposure, inherited
genetic change and  aging.

       I see any DDD as an unfortunate proof that genetic change causes
biochemical malfunction. Any possible cause of a DDD depends on the
susceptibility of normal genetic material to alteration.  Gene sequences
which would normally code for the production, recognition, transport and
uptake of dopamine,such as sequences involved in controlling the 5-step
pathway from tyrosine to adrenaline, including DOPA, dopamine and
noradrenalin as the intermediate steps, and gene sequences involved in
the distribution of dopamine from the dopaminergic cells in the
substantia nigra to the anterior part of the ventral striatum to motivate
eating behaviors, and to the posterior part of the ventral striatum to
motivate movement, are where I would focus basic research.

       This research might be achieved at the NSF or at the NIH or in
private laboratories.

        Although I am no longer a professional scientist involved in
direct research, I was. I have been an NSF peer grant reviewer in
Physical Anthropology.  I feel that the advances in cellular research
which are directed to locating the genetic controls on dopamine
production and distribution are the key areas of research that ought to
be funded.   I believe that funding, whether in the private sector, or
through the promise of the $100,000,000.00 Udall Act in the USA, and
similar measures that may become law elsewhere on the planet, should be
concentrated on such gene systems.

       In recent weeks, Dr. Richard Palmiter of the University of
Washington, working with Cell Genesys in California, has reported
extraordinary and promising results in mice which were initially
genetically engineered to have a DDD essentially equal to human
Parkinson's Disease.  I talked with him on Wednesday. Some 20 out of 23
of these mice in his laboratory have been returned to virtually normal,
after the introduction via injection of a virus produced at Cell Genesys,
Inc. of California.

       From talking over the telephone to Gerry Haines of Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, whose husband, Brig has PD, I discovered that the
American-based Parkinson's Alliance is discussing the prioritizing of
research money that it may be able to generate.  I am very encouraged by
her hopefulness, and she asked me to write the following brief summary of
 my thinking at this time.

       I believe that it is quite possible that a VIRAL origin of human
Parkinson's is likely for at least a significant proportion of DDD's
worldwide.

     Consider a few interesting facts:

    (1)  The well-known post-swine flu encephalitis of the early part of
this century caused innumerable cases of "Parkinson's Disease" to
develop.  These were memorialized by Dr. Oliver Sachs, in his book,
Awakenings. The movie, "Awakenings," forever and indelibly imprinted in
our memories by screen stars Robert  De Niro and Robin Williams, recalls
the early use of L-dopa to cause movement and communication in "frozen"
hospital patients.  The key point is that these people had been exposed
to a devastating virus.

     (2)  It is very well known that amantadine, actually an ANTI-VIRAL
drug, reduces tremor in PWP's (people with Parkinson's). Antibiotic drugs
have also been reported to quell the symptoms of PWP's.

     (3) Horses in, I believe, Germany, develop an equine variety of DDD
after exposure to the Bern virus. I believe this report was released in
1998.

     (4) Taiwanese women with Parkinson's are mentioned to be,
interestingly, post- herpes viral victims.

    (5)  I also believe that recently there has been work to show that
Multiple Sclerosis can be attributed to the Herpes virus number 6.

    (6)  I read in the New York Times about four years ago of a young
boy whose Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy was being treated with
genetically-engineered dystrophin, a man-made protein predicted to
restore normal movement to that patient.

      These 4 pieces of important evidence ( 1 - 4 above), and 2
observations about related neuromotor disorders ( 5 and 6 above) can all
be used  as CLUES in support of the idea of a VIRAL origin for human
Parkinson's Disease.  Identification of this PD virus, much like the
current battle against the Ebola Virus, and also in light of the last 15
years of worldwide, coordinated research to contain the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus, should take top priority in virology and public
health.

      To emphasize the urgency, I would simply say that my own ability
to live any tiny remnant of a disease-free life is very unlikely to
extend beyond 50 or so, unless something DRAMATIC happens soon in
research laboratories!!

      In epidemiology, we recently have seen the intriguing paper by Dr.
Tanner  of California.  She claims that 90% of the PD cases are due to a
toxic event.  I am not so sure that her paper presents any unassailable
evidence of toxic exposure. A viral origin for DDD's might also
meanwhile explain her PD evidence on twins.  Twins, whether identical,
fraternal or sororital, if sharing the same bedroom, could come into
contact with a PD-causing virus with greater frequency than siblings of
different ages.

     Let us for the moment assume that ALL DDD cases are due to either
viral exposure or to other causes capable of breaking up and rearranging
the normal amino acid sequence of either DNA, or the messenger RNA
templates that ultimately produce DNA.

     This assumption would give us a conceptual framework to understand
virtually all case of "Parkinson's Disease," no matter what the cause.
This framework strongly points towards viruses.

      Now, a few thoughts on the "cure" for Parkinson's Disease.  Dr.
Palmiter's mice are injected with a man-made virus created at Cell
Genesys, a virus that takes over the animals' mRNA templates for the DNA
that codes for the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase.  This injection causes
the correct DNA sequence to be relaid, so that dopamine is produced, and
amazingly, the genetically-sick mice LOSE ALL SIGNS of Parkinson's
Disease, except some slowness of movement in some of the mice.

   The sick mice not only move again. Their DDD does a disappearing act
!! The sick mice seem to recover from the weight loss that threatens
them Their will to eat returns, along with their normal gait and
posture.. How strikingly reminiscent of the problems we PWP's have with
protein absorption and body weight loss that frequently assert themselves
in the middle and later stages of our various DDD's.I am going through
this ordeal now, and it is VERY difficult to control!!

      All it took was the correcting of a jumbled gene sequence to end
the DDD in the mice.

       I am ready to volunteer myself to Genesys, or to any laboratory
that can learn how to examine with repeated and consistent results, the
DNA sequence in human white blood cells, and of course in particular, the
DNA of  PWP's.  As long as published, repeatable methods are used, I
would  REALLY like to imagine that it won't be that long before a viral
means of transporting the instructions to manufacture a corrected DNA
sequence, perhaps in the form of an injection, will be the magic
instrument that we PWP's in this Parkinson's-unfriendly world  need.

   By taking such hopeful steps, we can enter what Judith Richards calls
a new "era."  And step forward we must , so that we not only talk about,
but are participants in, a planetary effort  to END Parkinson's DIsease.
Only then, will the coming of the millennium seem truly meaningful to me.

  Intensive and competitive research in virology, epidemiology and
public health, along with basic research in neurological biochemistry and
in human genetics, could be the basis of a coordinated program to
eradicate Parkinson's DIsease from the planet.

    BIg words, big ideas, and above all, HOPE, must be the at the center
of a global plan of attack. Personally, I am saying, why not dream for
the stars?   Mr. Ali's steadfastness, and Mr. Fox's hopefulness are both
inspiring the world as the race for the cure begins. I only hope that Mr.
Fox's cure comes before he is 40, NOT 50, as he usually says.

     And, I see an all-out, worldwide ATTACK on what I will call the
Human Dopamine-Neutralizing VIrus, or " HDV " as the direction that can
usher us all into an era of radical action, and unending  hope.

     After all, I am a PWP myself, and have my life to lose to this
devastating disease if a cure is not found.  At age 49, I am at least 13
years of noticeable symptoms into a DDD called "Young Onset Parkinson's
Disease," I see only the PUSH for the genetic explanation of PD in human
beings as the pathway to unravelling the PD mystery, and to preventative,
genetic treatment for HDV-positive persons.

   With our eyes  looking  forward,

    (Prof.) Ivan M. Suzman, young-onset PWP
    Portland, Maine, USA
    tel 207 797-8488
    e-mail :    [log in to unmask]
   _____________________Original Message
Ends_______________________________

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